The Rugby World Cup Sevens is the premier stand-alone international rugby sevens competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the World Rugby (WR), and is contested by the national sevens teams every four years. The winners of the tournament are awarded the Melrose Cup, named after the Scottish town of Melrose where the first rugby sevens game was played.[citation needed] The inaugural tournament was held in 1993 in Scotland, the birthplace of rugby sevens.

New Zealand are the current World Champions having won the competition in 2013. Fiji and New Zealand have won the tournament twice. England and Wales have won a single tournament, while both Australia and South Africa have reached the finals, but have not secured a title.

Prior to the inclusion of Rugby Sevens into the Olympic Games, the IRB stated that their intention would be to end the World Cup Sevens so that the Olympic Games would be the one pinnacle in a four-year cycle for rugby sevens.[1] However, following consultation, the IRB announced that the competition would be retained, and integrated into the Olympic calendar, meaning that a meaningful elite level competition would take place every two years from 2016. The World Cup will be also markedly larger in terms of team numbers than the Olympic tournament.[2] The first competition after Olympic integration is set to take place in 2018, which will entail a one-off five-year gap from the 2013 competition.

The IRB made a submission to the International Olympic Committee in 2005 for rugby sevens to become an Olympic sport. However, the submission failed because committee members felt IRB needed to improve promotion of the women's game.[citation needed] To that end, the IRB implemented the first women's Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in 2009.[3] The 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held in Dubai during the first weekend of March 2009 and included a separate women's tournament. Cumulative attendance was 78,000.[3]

Prior to the inclusion of rugby sevens into the Olympic Games, the IRB stated that their intention would be to end the World Cup Sevens so that the Olympic Games would be the one pinnacle in a four-year cycle for Rugby Sevens.[1] The adoption of rugby sevens and golf was recommended to the full International Olympic Committee council by its executive board in August 2009.[4] The International Olympic Committee voted in 2009 for rugby sevens to become a medal sport at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.[5]

The IRB Council in 2010 awarded the hosting of the 2013 tournament to Moscow, Russia from a field of eight nations that had expressed formal interest in hosting.[6] The IRB intended that the exposure to rugby from hosting the World Cup Sevens would accelerate the growth of rugby in Russia.[6]

The IRB had said the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens – featuring 24 men's teams and 16 women's teams – would be the last one. However, following feedback from its member unions, the IRB's general assembly voted for the tournament to continue. The principal concern is that Sevens at the Olympics would accommodate only 12 teams.[7]

The IRB announced on June 12, 2013 that the Rugby World Cup Sevens would continue after 2013, with the next tournament set for 2018, and for every four years after that.[8] Following the IRB's announcement, several nations officially announced their intention to bid to host the 2018 tournament – including the United States[9] and Wales.[10]

The 2001 tournament, held in Argentina, added another chapter to the legend of New Zealand's Jonah Lomu. Lomu, used sparingly in pool play, received his opportunity when New Zealand captain Eric Rush broke his leg in the last pool match. Lomu went on to score three tries in the final.

In 2005, Waisale Serevi came out of international retirement to captain and lead Fiji to their second Melrose Cup.

At the 2009 tournament in Dubai, Wales, Samoa, Argentina and Kenya combined to stun the rugby world by defeating the traditional powerhouses of New Zealand, England, South Africa and Fiji in the quarter-finals, guaranteeing a new Melrose Cup winner. Wales and Argentina met in the final, with Wales triumphing 19–12. Wales' Taliesin Selley was named player of the tournament.

The top all-time try-scorer for the Rugby World Cup Sevens has been Fijian winger Marika Vunibaka, who scored 23 tries in 3 of the Sevens World Cups he played in since his debut in 1997.